By Mary Lowther
Try as I may (and I really do!) my winter fitness regimen has not prepared me for the reality of spring. All winter I work out with calisthenics, isometrics and aerobics, not to mention shovelling snow and humping in the firewood, yet every vernal equinox I find myself rediscovering muscles that have somehow slept through my wake up call.
Digging, hoeing and bent-over planting are not for the faint of heart or weak of back, but the results are worth the effort! While staying healthy by eating homegrown organic food, we are also getting fitter. That’s a definite twofer, and we haven’t even mentioned the benefits of fresh air and sunshine yet.
I’ve read myriad suggestions that describe easier ways to do various gardening chores, such as raising the beds on supports to make them wheelchair accessible, but the gardening itself still requires physical work. Fortunately, the reward for watching our tended crops helps us forget any physical aches and pains involved in the process.
The wise treat garden work as a workout. Stretching afterwards forces out lactic acid buildup that causes aches, and as the temperatures rise this summer we “retired” folks can use the midday heat as an excuse to stop until evening. Siesta was invented for those hot summer days; we must never forget the hard learned wisdom of our elders.
Don’t forget to hydrate; you need to be watered, too. When I used to work day jobs I did most of my gardening in the early mornings and weekends, and now I find gardening more pleasurable when I take regular water breaks, so even though routine chores look daunting, chipping away at them eventually gets most of them done.
I’ve been keeping a weather log for the past six years, and our last frost in 2019 was April 23. Even though our climate is heating up, I find that present temperatures echo what we went through that year, so I’m planting according to the same schedule. For example, my first batch of peas in 2019 didn’t come up until mid-April, and this year it’s the same. If I remember rightly, my first batch of peas two years ago was burned in a heat wave; perhaps I should take precautions that will no doubt involve water. I’d prefer to hang shade cloth over them, but how could I persuade David that he wants to hang this over 40 feet of six-foot tall pea trellis?
We’ve always had dry summers, so I have amassed a bunch of soaker hoses that conserve water by taking it directly to the roots. Very little evaporates this way and it fits within CVRD drought guidelines; I am budgeting to create a rainwater catchment system as well. Perhaps while we are exercising our bodies with the monotonous spring routine we can simultaneously exercise our minds on the coming summer, and ways to ensure that all these aches and pains are rewarded tastefully.
Please contact mary_lowther@yahoo.ca with questions and suggestions since I need all the help I can get.